lamp of grace.

And terrible death itself cannot do it. Death does not separate me from
Jesus; death is the Lord's minister to lead me into deeper privilege and
ripe experiences of grace and love. Therefore, "I will lay me down in
peace, and take my rest."

AUGUST The Twenty-sixth

_MISSING THE LORD_

"_Thou knowest not the time of thy visitation._"
--LUKE xix. 37-44.

Yes, that has been my sad experience. I have wasted some of my wealthiest
seasons. I have treated the hour as common and worthless, and the
priceless opportunity has passed.

There have been times when my Lord has come to me, and I have turned Him
away from my door. He so often journeys "incognito," and if I am
thoughtless I dismiss Him, and so lose the privilege of heavenly communion
and benediction. He knocks at my door as a Carpenter, and the humble
attire deceives me, and I treat Him with scant courtesy, and sometimes
with contempt. I know not the time of my visitation.

He comes to me in the guise of needy people--as sick, or hungry, or a
stranger, and I cannot be troubled with His presence. I dismissed Him as a
pauper, little knowing that I was turning away a millionaire! I knew not
the time of my visitation! "I was an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat,"
and so we missed the bread of life.

And so there is nothing for it, but to be always "on the watch." I must
treat everybody as though everybody was the Christ. And I must treat every
commonplace moment as though it were the home of the eternal.

AUGUST The Twenty-seventh

_WHAT ABOUT TO-MORROW?_

JOSHUA xxiv. 1-15.

It is not mine to worry about the coming day, but to fill the immediate
moment with radiant duty. My Lord is the Pioneer, the great Maker of
roads, and He will see to the appointments and provisions of the way. He
has His scouts, His advance guard, His miners and sappers opening the
highway across the waste! "I will send mine angel before thee!" "I will
send hornets before you!" Yes, the Lord will look after the road. What,
then, am I called to do? Let me find the answer in the 14th verse.

"_Fear the Lord!_" The Lord must be the sovereign thought in my life. All
true and well-proportioned living must begin in well-proportioned thought.
God must be my biggest thought, and from that thought all others must take
their colour and their range.

"_Put away the gods._" My supreme homage must not be shared among many, it
must be given to One. When the Lord is